Should DVC eliminate walking?

[Chuck S]

I already changed my tune 7 posts ago and 1 post ago because it seems like it's a narrow issue that isn't worth affecting the entire program with new rules, but being brought up again let me revise to '6 day limitation introduced for the continuous changes of both adding+removing days, 1 forced day off, proceed, rinse repeat.'

Not that I want this but at least it'd make more sense than what I originally posted.

Remember, that it is not uncommon for folks traveling to Disney from overseas to often stay 2 to 3 weeks. As expensive as those flights are, I can certainly see why they would want their entire DVC reservation in place prior to paying for airfare.

As I said, I do not like walking, but there is no easy fix, and so far every suggestion puts more restrictions on everyone. I don't think the system is broken enough to further restrict every other member.

 

[Heather07438]

Remember, that it is not uncommon for folks traveling to DIsney from overseas to stay 2 to 3 weeks. As expensive as those flights are, I can certainly see why they woulod want their entire DVC reservation in place prior to paying for airfare.

As I said, I do not like walking, but there is no easy fix, and so far every suggestion puts more restrictions on everyone. I don;t think the system is broken enough to further restrict every other member.

Makes sense. Seems best just to leave the system alone.

Still tho to the original point, long stays wouldn't be impeded by anything that addressed continuous addition AND removal of days. Long term guests are adding days for the most part, not also subtracting continuously for days/weeks on end. If I'm understanding correctly?

 

[JETSDAD]

Makes sense. Seems best just to leave the system alone.

Still tho to the original point, long stays wouldn't be impeded by anything that addressed continuous addition AND removal of days. Long term guests are adding days for the most part, not also subtracting continuously for days/weeks on end. If I'm understanding correctly?

Correct but even if you couldn't remove days frequently, people with more points could still walk by simply making a long reservation and then dropping everything they don't want in one move. A lot of people have suggested trying to make it so you just couldn't drop days early on but then the person with the most points wins because they could just make a 4-6+ week reservation and then drop most of it off the front end later on.

 

[Arthur2990]

Yes.

 

[Arthur2990]

Right, walking happens because certain rooms/times have demand >> supply. Normally, the way you fix that is to increase the point cost of the popular times and decrease the point cost of the unpopular times. Walking is just a symptom of the underlying problem. But changing the point costs probably would not be a very popular solution either since lots of people purchase contracts with the idea that they will be always book those low cost rooms.

Well in the 2021 point charts Disney adjusted the point charts so that the Fall season now requires more points to stay for the same nights vs 2020. We will see how this affects availability.

 

[Sandisw]

Well in the 2021 point charts Disney adjusted the point charts so that the Fall season now requires more points to stay for the same nights vs 2020. We will see how this affects availability.

I bet we see additional changes in the 2022 charts as well to shift some of those rooms higher.

 

[Arthur2990]

I bet we see additional changes in the 2022 charts as well to shift some of those rooms higher.

As talked about on the Dis the trend is summer season is slowing down. We might see long term summer points go down and fall go up.

 

[zavandor]

Walking also impacts only a small number of units, and it's unlikely that magically eliminating walking suddenly makes AKV Value easily booked. Too few of them. Same for BWV Standard, truthfully.

This.

I do not trust the current DVC management in implementing changes to the booking system that wouldn't hurt members and benefit somehow Disney itself. So no, I do not want any change.

 

[zavandor]

Going back to the original booking method would eliminate walking, and is the most fair way to book.
Some don’t like day by day booking, but like walking, there is no requirement to do it. The option is there if you want a hard reservation bad enough, and iis 100% fair for everyone.

Worst idea ever.
The old method of booking is terrible, would cause 1000 more problems to all owners than walking.

 

[chainkid]

I'm a solid nope. I use walking to get hard to book reservations . It requires abit of time but well worth the effort especially when you tend to borrow and book for one big vacation every other year. Everyone has the same opportunity to make the effort so if everyone did it you are just back at square one with no added restrictions having to be put in place. If you have a large number of points than you have a distinct advantage over small point holders in walking .

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Worst idea ever.
The old method of booking is terrible, would cause 1000 more problems to all owners than walking.

Please explain why. I’d love to hear it.
It’s no different than today’s system, other than it eliminates walking.
There is no requirement to book day by day,, just as there is no requirement to to walk with today’s system. BUT.... if you use the day by day for hard to get reservations, it is fair.... unlike walking.

 

[Chuck S]

The only problem with the original booking system was that even booking day by day, you could be missing a night or two in the middle of your reservation, which would be a major problem for people traveling from other countries for a long vacation. For most Americans, it really wasn't a problem, as most people here tend to take much shorter trips, and were usually more flexible with their travel dates. That said, I like the current system better, even with the issue of walking. BUt then, my home resort is large OKW, so I have very few problems getting my desired rooms. The biggest is a minor issue, near HH or not.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

The only problem with the original booking system was that even booking day by day, you could be missing a night or two in the middle of your reservation, which would be a major problem for people traveling from other countries for a long vacation

True, but that would be the fault of the Member, not the system. Plus, if that day were that hard to get, it would likely have been unavailable due to walking anyway.

* I did bow out of this thread as not to beat a dead horse about the old system, but I was quoted so felt the need to respond.

 

[Sandisw]

True, but that would be the fault of the Member, not the system. Plus, if that day were that hard to get, it would likely have been unavailable due to walking anyway.

* I did bow out of this thread as not to beat a dead horse about the old system, but I was quoted so felt the need to respond.

If someone wanted Dec 10 to 15th, then they would to go on Jan 15th. some of those days might not available because someone did day by day.
Or am I misunderstanding?

 

[zavandor]

Please explain why. I’d love to hear it.
It’s no different than today’s system, other than it eliminates walking.
There is no requirement to book day by day,, just as there is no requirement to to walk with today’s system. BUT.... if you use the day by day for hard to get reservations, it is fair.... unlike walking.

1) the old system is unfair against people who want to book longer vacations. Someone who wants to book a full week can do so only after 1 week the booking window opened. By that Time the first night of the reservation might already be fully booked by others who want fewer nights

2) because of 1, everyone would book day by day rather than wait to be able to book the full reservation. This would put a bigger load on the system and on MS who would need to combine the reservations. We pay for those and we would have increased MF because of it

3) booking day by day for a high demand room in a high demand period means that every day is a lottery system. With different winners every day. This leads to people having jigsaw puzzles of reservations, with missing nights in the middle. Then the game of chicken will start? Who gives up first and cancel?

4) if because of 3 people are forced to do split stays between different room types, this mean more checkins and checkouts, more cleaned rooms, more load on bell services. Again, we pay for those with our dues.


People have already explained to you all of this, both in this thread and in every other thread you propose to go back to the old system. So now I'll try a different approach.
The old system has been in use for years. Members were able to use it, Disney was able to evaluate its effects. They have decided to change it because it was bad. No one miss it, except you. And you are not even a DVC member.
It's fair to say it's not coming back.

 

[zavandor]

I have a wonderful system that would eliminate walking and would be fair for everyone: if you book and need to cancel, you lose half your points.
Would you like it?
I guess not.

The problem is it would be a fantastic system for Disney. It would greatly increase breakage inventory and Disney would pocket millions.

That's an example of a change that would eliminate walking and Disney could profit from. They might even say it has been introduced "by popular demand".
Do not poke the sleeping bear. We cannot trust DVC to change the rules to eliminate walking without profiting themselves at the expense of members.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

If someone wanted Dec 10 to 15th, then they would to go on Jan 15th. some of those days might not available because someone did day by day.
Or am I misunderstanding?

That is correct, but if day by day was needed, walking would have been as well. So, that part is a wash imo.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

1) the old system is unfair against people who want to book longer vacations. Someone who wants to book a full week can do so only after 1 week the booking window opened. By that Time the first night of the reservation might already be fully booked by others who want fewer nights

Incorrect. You can book everyday, or every second day, third day, weekly. Etc....
[quite]2) because of 1, everyone would book day by day rather than wait to be able to book the full reservation. This would put a bigger load on the system and on MS who would need to combine the reservations. We pay for those and we would have increased MF because of it
[/Quote]
Argument doesn’t really hold merit because your assertion was incorrect. Day by day is an option if you believe it’s a hard to get reservation, but not mandatory. Exactly like walking is.

3) booking day by day for a high demand room in a high demand period means that every day is a lottery system. With different winners every day. This leads to people having jigsaw puzzles of reservations, with missing nights in the middle. Then the game of chicken will start? Who gives up first and cancel?

In 12 years of booking, that has never happened to me. If you call at opening at 11 months from checkout, your chances of securing your reservation are better than if that category was so popular that it was being walked.

4) if because of 3 people are forced to do split stays between different room types, this mean more checkins and checkouts, more cleaned rooms, more load on bell services. Again, we pay for those with our dues.

Never happened. Never. I have secured the toughest reservations there are using day by day and never had an issue. AKV Club, VGC GV, VB cottage in summer to name a few. Never had to split stay due to lack of reservation.

People have already explained to you all of this, both in this thread and in every other thread you propose to go back to the old system. So now I'll try a different approach.
The old system has been in use for years. Members were able to use it, Disney was able to evaluate its effects. They have decided to change it because it was bad. No one miss it, except you. And you are not even a DVC member.
It's fair to say it's not coming back.

Right, because everyone just loves walking.

 

[crvetter]

That is correct, but if day by day was needed, walking would have been as well. So, that part is a wash imo.

The biggest issue you seem to ignore is that you find the system unfair as it currently is (though don’t own DVC anymore, did you even under the current system?). However the prior system was inherently unfair.

So let’s draw a hypothetical in that there are 10 rooms exactly available for 12/10-12/15 and 11 hypothetical owners interested in this rooms. 10 of the owners want the room 12/10-12/14 and the last wants 12/10-12/15.

Under the current system walking wouldn’t really be needed for that ratio of demand vs supply. Sure one could walk but it marginally improves your odds, though remember all owners can walk if they chose so fair on that front but let’s pretend walking is magically made to go away. This on 1/10 all 11 owners are eligible to book their stay and have equal and fair chance at booking.

Under the old system 10 of the owners can book their stays 1/14 thus all the rooms are now gone 12/10-12/14 so the last owner can’t book ever their intended stay. Again assuming day by day isn’t needed because you assume the need for day by day goes hand and hand with the need for walking. So this system is inherently detrimental to longer DVC stays.

Edit: day by day was never the intended way to book a room and was still “cheating” because it was to be 11 months from your check out day. You really are just choosing which “cheating” you are comfortable with to justify switching back. I think @zavandor showed well why the current walking is a preferred method of “cheating” over the day by day method.

 

[zavandor]

Right, because everyone just loves walking.

Wrong. Everyone hate the old system much more than walking. Disney included.